Chuck Sweeny: Outburst shows Linda McNeely’s political naivete

The changing of the guard Monday at Rockford’s City Council meeting was a harmonious occasion of farewell and introductory speeches. Except, that is, for perennial dissident Linda “13-1” McNeely.

Chuck Sweeny

The changing of the guard Monday at Rockford’s City Council meeting was a harmonious occasion of farewell and introductory speeches.

Except, that is, for perennial dissident Linda “13-1” McNeely. She launched a tirade against the man she clobbered 403-160 in the April 9 election, David Lickteig, who converted from Republican to independent and moved into the largely minority 13th Ward to run against her. The Democratic alderman is black; Lickteig is white.

Her description of her opponent was of a Trojan horse sent by nefarious scoundrels to ensure that 13th Ward residents would not be represented by one of their own. Wow! If a white alderman or Mayor Larry Morrissey had opined that, he’d be finished in politics, and rightly so. But not one alderman had the guts to call out McNeely.

Here is McNeely in her own words:

“I once again will say, to Jesus Christ be the glory. The guy who ran against me, Dave Lickteig, who spoke earlier this evening, I went by where he lives. He no longer lives at the address he used in his filing papers.

“There is a ‘For Rent’ sign on the building. If there had been an election after my election, we would find that not only did he return to where he came from, that he also returned to being a Republican, not an independent. What angers me is that I believe that some sitting here now, along with others in this community, assisted this guy David Lickteig to run against me. The election law that he used to be able to run is not in the candidate’s handbook.”

She had just gotten started.

“What is so disturbing Mr. Mayor, is to put a whole ward in jeopardy for someone’s personal gain with no regard for the thousands of people who live there. That is a slap in the face and the attitude that ‘you people don’t deserve to be represented by your own (who) will fight for you.’

“Here, this guy will do. He doesn’t know you, he doesn’t look like the majority of you, he doesn’t live there and his political views are Republican. Your views align with the Democrats, but throw him in there anyway as an independent. They won’t know.

“Anyone who participated in that scheme does not have any respect for the people of the 13th Ward. But I stand here, Mr. Mayor, aldermen, with the highest percentage of votes of any of you in a contested race of anyone in this past election. That’s why I say to Jesus Christ be the glory.”

First, can we leave God out of this? Second, I remind McNeely that the U.S. has a president who doesn’t look like most Americans. By her own measure, Barack Obama should not be representing us.

And we certainly do have people who feel that way. We call them racists.

Beyond the tattered race card McNeely played is a shocking lack of understanding of the American political system, Illinois model. McNeely has been a politician in the state Democratic Party for a long time. She should know that, in this state, the political game is a contact sport.

I don’t know this to be true, but let’s say some folks allied with Morrissey did ask Lickteig to run for alderman in an attempt to dislodge McNeely, an alderman known mainly for opposing the mayor’s agenda and anything to do with improving downtown.

Trying to get rid of an opponent in an election is not immoral or illegal. It’s politics and it’s expected. The voters — the few who bothered to show up — knew that and chose accordingly.

Does McNeely, a longtime member of the state Democratic Central Committee, think for one second that Mike Madigan, chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party, would not try every trick in the political playbook to rid himself of an annoying dissenter in the ranks?